Upholstered furniture

ABSTRACT

A seat or backrest for a chair or other article of furniture is made from two moulded shells, one of which is inverted and seats within the other. Upholstery material is placed on the top of the said one shell, upholstery cover material is stretched over the upholstery material and over a lip surrounding the said one shell, and secured inside the shell, the lip of the inner shell retaining itself and the upholstery material or cover against a lip on the other shell.

Unite tates stem Rey et al. 1 Mar. 27, 1973 [54] UPHOLSTERED FURNlTlURE [56] References Cited [75] Inventors: Ivor Allan Rey, Turramurra, New UNITED STATES PATENTS South Wales; Victor Edmund Kraut, Potts point, N South wales both 3,556,594 l/l97l Anderson ..297/452 3,455,605 7/1969 Anderson... .....297/445 of Austraha 3,300,251 H1967 Helms ..297 445 [73] Assignee: Sebel Limited, New South Wales,

Australia Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg Filed: y' 1971 Attorney-Robert E. Burns et al. [21] Appl. No.: 159,341 [57] ABSTRACT A seat or backrest for a chair or other article of furni- [30] Foreign Application Priority Data ture is made from two moulded shells, one of which is P inverted and seats within the other. Upholstery materi- July 13, 1970 Australia A 1804 a] is placed on the p of the Said one She", upholstery cover material is stretched over the upholstery materi- [52] US. Cl ..297/452 3] and over a Hp Surrounding w Said one She", and [51] Int. Cl... ...A47c 7/14, A47c 7/20 Secured inside the She, tha up of tm inner she [58] of Search "297/440, retaining itself and the upholstery material or cover against a lip on the other shell.

I 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Patented March 27, 1973 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented March 27, 1973 3,722,954

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented March 27, 1973 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE This invention relates to improvements in upholstered furniture. While the invention is particularly applicable to chairs it can be applied to other articles of furniture such as sofas, stools and the like.

It is becoming increasingly common to manufacture furniture components, such as the seats and backrests, or combined seats and backrests, of chairs, from a molded plastic. These components may be carried by a metal or wooden frame, or in some cases-the whole chair is molded. However, difficulties arise in upholstering suchcomp'onents. In particular it is difficult to secure the upholstery covering material neatly and in an inconspicuous manner. Also the best advantage of the wear-resisting properties of the plastic, especially in the case of stacking or nesting chairs, is not taken.

For convenience the invention will be described and claimed in its normal position of use.

According to the present invention an upholstered furniture component comprises an outer shell having an upwardly directed lip around its circumference, an inner shell having an upturned'lip around its circumference, upholstery material on the innershell, and upholstery cover material stretched over the said upholstery material and over the said lip on the inner shell, the cover material being secured to the inner shell, the inner shell seating inside the outer shell with the lip of the inner shell located and resiliently retained in a shallow groove inside of the lip of the outer shell.

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGS. 1 and.2 are front and rear perspective views of a chair in which both the seat and backrest are made in accordance with this invention,

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the seat of the chair before the components are assembled to each other,

FIG. 4 is a part section across the seat of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a portion of the seat mouldings nested within one another.

Referring'now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the specific chair shown has a frame 1 made of metal tubing which has secured to it by any known suitable means an upholstered seat 2 and an upholstered backrest 3.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 the seat '2 of the chair has an outer or bottom shell 4 moulded from a suitable synthetic plastic such as polypropylene and is basically pan-shaped with a base 5 and an upstanding lip 6 around the circumference of the shell. The base of the shell is provided with inverted channels 7 moulded into it which channels can receive the seat retaining portions 8 of the chair frame.

An inner or upper shell 9 is provided also moulded from a suitable synthetic plastic and is basically of inverted pan-shape, with an upturned lip 10 extending around its circumference. Upholstery material, for example of. foamed plastic or rubber 11, or padding, is

tical portion of the wall which ends in a rounded inturned portion 16 which in effect provides a shallow groove 17 on the internal face of the lip around the whole circumference of the lip and near the top of the lip.

The said upturned lip 10 is thinner than the remainder of the upper shell and is of such thickness that it has a sufficient resiliency, and the size of the inner shell is such when covered with upholstery cover, that when the inner shell is forced into the outer shell the resilient lip of the inner shell first flexes inwardly to pass over the rounded portion 16 of the lip of the lower shell, and then springs outwardly for the circumferential edge of the resilient lip 10 to engage in the circumferential groove 17 in the outer shell whilst retaining the upholstery cover. The underside of the inner shell may be provided with downwardly directed posts 18 (FIG. 4) whose bottom rests on the inside of the outer shell. Screws H9 which secure the chair frame to the seat may be screwed into these posts.

With this construction it will be seen that no part of the inner shell is visible in the assembled seat, and the fastening of the cover material is concealed. The outer shell 4 takes most of the wear, rather than the upholstery, especially when the chair is of the stacking or nesting type. While the inner shell can be, and should be, shaped to the human body, the shape of the outside shell is not so dictated.

The same construction is used for the backrest 3 of the chair, with such differences in shape as are occasioned by their different purposes. Thus the outer shell mayhave moulded in it extensions 19 on each side which contain cylindrical openings for the ends of the tubular portions 20 forming the backrest, and an ash tray 2f. However, as before, there are inner and outer mouldings, and the upholstery cover is taken over an upturned or re-entrant lip which lip springs inside the rim of the outer shell. The same construction can be used also for a chair in which the seat and backrest are combined.

We claim:

I. An upholstered furniture component comprising an outer shell having an upwardly directed lip around its circumference, an inner shell having an upturned lip around its circumference, upholstery material on the inner shell, and upholstery cover material stretched over the said upholstery material and over the said lip on the inner shell, the cover material being secured to the inner shell, the inner shell seating inside the outer shell with the lip of the inner shell located and resiliently retained in a shallow groove on the inside of the lip of the outer shell.

2. An upholstered furniture component as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lip around the circumference of the outer shell has a rounded inwardly directed protuberance near its upper edge forming the said shallow groove there below, and the lip of the inner shell is of sufficient resiliency, and of such size, that when covered by the upholstery cover material it flexes when forced over the rounded protuberance and then seats in the said shallow groove.

3. An upholstered furniture component as claimed in claim 1 wherein the component is a seat, the outer shell is substantially panshaped and has moulded into the base of the shell grooves in which are seated the seat frame members.

4. Anupholstered furniture component as claimed in claim 2 wherein the component is a seat.

l k t t 

1. An upholstered furniture component comprising an outer shell having an upwardly directed lip around its circumference, an inner shell having an upturned lip around its circumference, upholstery material on the inner shell, and upholstery cover material stretched over the said upholstery material and over the said lip on the inner shell, the cover material being secured to the inner shell, the inner shell seating inside the outer shell with the lip of the inner shell located and resiliently retained in a shallow groove on the inside of the lip of the outer shell.
 2. An upholstered furniture component as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lip around the circumference of the outer shell has a rounded inwardly directed protuberance near its upper edge forming the said shallow groove there below, and the lip of the inner shell is of sufficient resiliency, and of such size, that when covered by the upholstery cover material it flexes when forced over the rounded protuberance and then seats in the said shallow groove.
 3. An upholstered furniture component as claimed in claim 1 wherein the component is a seat, the outer shell is substantially panshaped and has moulded into the base of the shell grooves in which are seated the seat frame members.
 4. An upholstered furniture component as claimed in claim 2 wherein the component is a seat. 